Warren Buffett's NetJets Sued For $366 Million In Unpaid Taxes

NetJets Inc, a private jet-sharing
company owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway was sued for
$366.3 million by the government to recover unpaid taxes, four
months after NetJets sued the government for nearly twice as
much.

Four NetJets units have "failed, neglected or refused" to pay
excise taxes and related penalties between 2003 and 2009,
according to the countersuit filed Thursday with the U.S.
District Court in Columbus, Ohio, where NetJets is based.

Colleen Nissl, NetJets' general counsel, said the company does
not comment on pending litigation.

On November 14, NetJets had sued to recoup $642.7 million in
taxes and penalties, accusing the Internal Revenue Service of
having mistakenly imposed a "ticket tax" meant to apply only to
passengers who buy seats on commercial or charter aircrafts.

NetJets said that as a manager of private aircraft, it was not
required to pay the tax because its services were not "taxable
transportation." It also said the IRS put it at a disadvantage to
rivals that did not have to pay the tax.

Last year, NetJets posted a $227 million pretax profit,
continuing a turnaround after prior management had racked up $1.9
billion of debt and regularly posted quarterly losses.

"A few years ago NetJets was my number one worry: Its costs were
far out of line with revenues, and cash was hemorrhaging,"
Buffett, the world's third-richest person according to Forbes magazine, wrote last month in his annual
letter to Berkshire shareholders. "These problems are behind us."

Berkshire is based in Omaha, Nebraska.

The case is NetJets Large Aircraft Inc. v. U.S., U.S. District
Court, Southern District of Ohio, No. 11-01023.